Cigarette making machine



April 64 PATTERSON CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE Filed March 15, 1961 INV E NTO MOREHEAD 'PATTERRSON TZM 3M ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofifice 3,128,773 Patented Apr. 14, 1964 3,128,773 CIGARETTE MAKING h EAQHENE Morehead Patterson, New York, N.Y., assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 95,885 11 Claims. (Cl. 1131-62) This invention relates to an apparatus and method for making cigarettes.

In the past various machines have been developed for making cigarettes. Some provided for threshing the tobacco and then employ a separator to separate the lamina from the stems. The tobacco lamina are then sent through a shredding machine to produce shredded tobacco which in turn is made into a cigarette rod. Others have stemmed tobacco leaves first before shredding. Various mechanical and electrical control devices have also been employed with such shredded tobacco to obtain a uniform filling of the cigarette rod. In spite of all this complex machinery and processes the desired uniformity of density and compaction of the cigarette filler in a rod has not been attained.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a simplified method and apparatus of handling tobacco to produce a cigarette rod of uniform density and compaction.

' Another object of the invention is to spray a tobacco slurry and form it into a cigarette rod.

Another object of the invention is to spray a tobacco slurry and form it into a continuous stream of tobacco and then after removing a predetermined amount of moisture therefrom forming it into a cigarette rod.

Other objects and features of the invention will ap' pear as the description of the particular embodiments selected to illustrate the invention progress. In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, like characters of reference have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an apparatus that can employed with my invention for making cigarette rods. FIG. 2 is a view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of a modified form of the invention.

In my invention, tobacco is mixed with a liquid and ground up in a suitable mill to form a tobacco slurry. This slurry may be made in the manner described in U.S. Patent No. 2,433,877 to F. H. Wells and F. J. Sowa granted January 6, 1948. A suitable continuous source or supply of this tobacco slurry is employed in this invention. This slurry is supplied to a spraying mechanism It} and is sprayed out the nozzle 11.

The slurry 12 is subjected to a suitable electrostatic charge before or While issuing from the nozzle '11. The spray 12 passes between a pair of electrodes 13 which may have a negative electrostatic charge so that the negative charges on these electrodes repel the negative charges in the slurry and thus reduce the cross sectional area of the slurry at location 14.

A conveyor 15 comprising a plurality of rollers 16 and a belt 17 trained on the rollers and moving in the direction of the arrow is provided for receiving and conveying the slurry. A guide 18 extends the length of the upper run of the belt 17 and has a large groove 19 and small grooves 20 which hold the upper run of the belt in a U shape. An electrode 21 is disposed between the bottom of the groove 19 of the guide 18 and the belt 17 has a positive electrostatic charge.

The spray 12 of tobacco slurry is attracted to the belt 17 since the spray is negatively charged and the electrode 21 is positively charged and unlike charges attract. The belt 17 should be made of cotton or linen so as not to interfere with the attraction between the negative charges in the spray 12 and the positively charged electrode 21. The spray 12 of tobacco slurry is received in the U shaped upper run of the belt 17 to form a stream of tobacco slurry.

Suitable means are provided to achieve a preliminary drying of the stream of tobacco. In this embodiment of the invention, the stream of tobacco slurry is carried by the belt 17 over a drier 22 positioned between the upper and lower runs of the belt to remove a predetermined amount of moisture from the tobacco slurry. The stream of tobacco slurry is then carried by the belt 17 under a rotating compressor wheel 23 which rounds off the upper portion of the stream of tobacco slurry.

After passing the compressor wheel 23, the stream of tobacco is further dried by the drier 22 to remove more moisture from the stream of tobacco. The stream of tobacco slurry is then conveyed by the belt 17 to a primary shaper such as a compressor roller 24. When the stream of tobacco reaches the end of the upper run of the belt 17, it passes from the belt onto the cigarette paper 31 which is supported on a folder belt 32. The folder belt 32 travels over a plurality of rollers 33. The cigarette paper 31 is fed from a reel 34 onto the folder belt 32. After leaving tape 17, the tobacco slurry moves through a compressor tongue 25 where the tobacco rod takes its final circular form. From the compressor tongue 25 the tobacco rod passes through the conventional rod forming mechanisms of a cigarette making machine such as a pasting section 26, a paste wheel 27, a folder block 28, an ironer 29 and a cutofi 30.

FIGURE 3 shows a modified form of the invention. An electrode 35 is positioned between the electrodes 13 and has an electrostatic positive charge. Since the spray 12 of tobacco slurry has an electrostatic negative charge, the spray will be attracted to the electrostatically positively charged electrode 35 as like charges attract and the electrode 35 will further reduce the cross sectional area of the spray 12.

In this embodiment the upper run of the belt 17 could be flat thus eliminating the guide 18 and the electrode 21 could be eliminated if desired. If the electrode 21 were used it would be made fiat and would be disposed in the same position below the upper run of the belt 17.

It will be appreciated a rotating drum could be substituted for the belt conveyor 15 without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Thus it will be seen that applicants invention dispenses with the necessity for many machines heretofore necessary to process tobacco. Applicant has also overcome with his apparatus and method the disadvantage of nonuniformity of density and compaction in cigarette rods which is inherited with the processes and machines presently in use for making cigarettes. Applicants invention also results in a cigarette rod of more uniform density and compaction than that produced by either processes and ,8 machines for making cigarettes practiced prior to applicants invention.

While the invention has been disclosed by means of two specific illustrative embodiments thereof, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that numerous other arrangements and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

v 1. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed adjacent the first and second electrodes and receiving the spray, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

2. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed adjacent the first and second electrodes including a plurality of rollers and a belt trained on the rollers, a guide to hold one run of the belt of the conveyor in a U-shape, said one run of the belt of the conveyor receiving the spray, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the belt of the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

3. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed adjacent the first and second electrodes including a plurality of rollers and a belt trained on the rollers, a guide to hold one run of the belt of the conveyor in a U-shape, the belt of the conveyor receiving the spray, a third electrode disposed between said one run of the belt of the conveyor and the guide and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to attract the spray to the belt, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the belt of the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

4. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed below the first and second electrodes including a plurality of rollers and a belt trained on the rollers, a guide to hold the upper run of the belt of the conveyor in a U-shape, the belt of the conveyor receiving the spray, a third electrode disposed between the belt of the conveyor and the guide and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to attract the spray to the belt, a drier disposed below the upper run of the belt of the conveyor to dry the tobacco slurry, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the belt of the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

5. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a third electrode disposed centrally of the spray between the first and second electrodes and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to also decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed adjacent the first and second and third electrodes and receiving the spray, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

6. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a third electrode disposed centrally of the spray between the first and second electrodes and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to also decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed adjacent the first and second and third electrodes including a plurality of rollers and a belt trained on the rollers with the belt receiving the spray, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the belt of the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

7. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a third electrode disposed centrally of the spray between the first and second electrodes and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to also decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed adjacent the first and second and third electrodes including a plurality of rollers and a belt trained on the rollers, a guide to hold one run of the belt of the conveyor in a U shape, the belt of the conveyor receiving the spray and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the belt of the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

8. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a third electrode disposed centrally of the spray between the first and second electrodes and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to also decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed adjacent the first and second and third electrodes including a plurality of rollers and a belt trained on the rollers, a guide to hold one run of the belt of the conveyor in a U shape, the belt of the conveyor receiving the spray, a fourth electrode disposed between the belt of the conveyor and the guide and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to attract the spray to the belt, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the belt of the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

9. Apparatus for making cigarette rods comprising means for spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, first and second electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the spray and having a charge of the same sign as the spray to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a third electrode disposed centrally of the spray between the first and second electrodes and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to also decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, a conveyor disposed below the first and second and third electrodes including a plurality of rollers and a belt trained on the rollers, a guide to hold the upper run of the belt of the conveyor in a U shape, the belt of the conveyor receiving the spray, a fourth electrode disposed between the belt of the conveyor and the guide and having a charge of opposite sign to that of the spray to attract the spray to the belt, a drier disposed below the upper run of the belt of the conveyor to dry the tobacco slurry, and means receiving the tobacco slurry from the belt of the conveyor and forming it into a cigarette rod.

10. The method of making cigarette rods comprising the steps of spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, moving the spray past electrically charged electrodes of the same sign to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, forming the spray into a stream, and forming the stream into a cigarette rod.

11. The method of making cigarette rods comprising the steps of spraying a tobacco slurry having a charge of one sign, moving the spray past electrically charged electrodes of the same sign to decrease the cross sectional area of the spray, forming the spray into a stream, drying the stream, and forming the stream into a cigarette rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,117,527 Simon Nov. 17, 1914 6 Schacht Ian. 7, 1936 Benner et a1. Feb. 27, 1940 Wells et a1. Jan. 6, 1948 Hungerford et a1. Feb. 14, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany June 1, 1922 Germany Oct. 4, 1923 

9. APPARATUS FOR MAKING CIGARETTE RODS COMPRISING MEANS FOR SPRAYING A TOBACCO SLURRY HAVING A CHARGE OF ONE SIGN, FIRST AND SECOND ELECTRODES DISPOSED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE SPRAY AND HAVING A CHARGE OF THE SAME SIGN AS THE SPRAY TO DECREASE THE CROSS SECTIONAL AREA OF THE SPRAY, A THIRD ELECTRODE DISPOSED CENTRALLY OF THE SPRAY BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND ELECTRODES AND HAVING A CHARGE OF OPPOSITE SIGN TO THAT OF THE SPRAY TO ALSO DECREASE THE CROSS SECTIONAL AREA OF THE SPRAY, A CONVEYOR DISPOSED BELOW THE FIRST AND SECOND AND THIRD ELECTRODES INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF ROLLERS AND A BELT TRAINED ON THE ROLLERS, A GUIDE TO HOLD THE UPPER RUN OF THE BELT OF THE CONVEYOR IN A U SHAPE, THE BELT OF THE CONVEYOR RECEIVING THE SPRAY, A FOURTH ELECTRODE DISPOSED BETWEEN THE BELT OF THE CONVEYOR AND THE GUIDE AND HAVING A CHARGE OF OPPO- 